Marcus and Nancy Kirts sit in their living room. The pair grew up here, meeting in school and married in 1959.
Marcus Kirts met Nancy Coffing when they were students at Bean Blossom School.
They started dating junior year of high school. For high school graduation, Marcus gave Nancy an engagement ring. The next year, they got married.
Now, 63 years later, they live on their expansive farm on Spearsville Road, where they have been for 50 years.
Nancy was born Jan. 7, 1940 in Indianapolis to Sarah and Byron Coffing; Marcus was born Sept. 3 of that same year to Toby and Mary Kirts in a log cabin on Greasy Creek.
Marcus was one of four, with three brothers and a sister. Nancy had an older brother.
Marcus and Nancy honeymooned at the drive-in, he said.
“Couldn’t afford anything then,” Nancy said as she laughed.
From prom, to graduation to their wedding day, Marcus and Nancy Kirts have been by each other’s side since 1957. Abigail Youmans | The Democrat
They had two children, a boy and a girl.
Nancy’s family moved to Brown County from Indianapolis when she was nine, and believes that her mother wanted a change of pace.
Having been used to city life and figures of speech, Mrs. Coffing was alarmed by the change she found in the country. Nancy said one day her mother came home from a store in Spearsville, saying she was scared to death and they had to get out of the county.
After Mr. Coffing calmed her down and asked what was wrong, his wife explained that she had heard someone at the store say they were “hung up” — he told her it meant they were stuck in the mud.
Nancy’s mother had been a store clerk, and her father was a carpenter. When they moved to Brown County, he began work at the Brown County State Park as an assistant manager.
Marcus’ father retired from Cummins, and his mother was a homemaker.
She made a lot of apple butter for the Nashville House, which the Kirts boys hated, since they had to cut and scrape apples.
She also cleaned the house of Marcus Dickey, who was a secretary for the poet James Whitcomb Riley and friends with artist T.C. Steele.
After they got married, Marcus worked for Yellowwood State Forest for a couple of years, making 90 cents per hour. Then he worked in Indianapolis and for Henry Swain.
He worked in construction with local builder Lee Waltman for 16 years, building many homes and businesses in the Brown County area. He then became a full-time farmer.
Photos of Marcus on the Kirts’ farm and working construction with Lee Waltman. Abigail Youmans | The Democrat
The Kirts bought their farm in 1972, where they’ve done a lot of hay work, had a milk cow, hogs at one time and chickens here and there. Now, they only keep beef cows.
Marcus had built three homes on Greasy Creek for their family — one of which was their Nancy’s dream home, she said.
Nancy lived on Spearsville Road when she and Marcus were dating, and he drove by the farm one day and said to himself, “I’m going to own that farm.”
A realtor came into the Brown County Recorder’s Office one day, where Nancy was working as deputy recorder, and told her he had just listed the farm.
“I said, ‘Oh no. I’m going to have to tell him,’” Nancy said.
Farming with his grandfather is what drew Marcus to the career, working with him in the summertime.
“I enjoyed farming,” he said. “I remember getting in the wagon with him and shucking corn and hauling it back over to Greasy Creek.”
Before the recorder’s office, Nancy worked in an insurance office in Indianapolis, then at the state park. She was working in a store in Nashville when someone told her there was an opening at the recorder’s office for deputy recorder.
She worked there for six years, then ran as a Republican candidate for the office of recorder. She was elected and served two terms, with Dee Smith as her deputy.
Newspaper clippings with stories of Nancy’s time as Brown County Recorder, the office she held for two terms starting in 1976. Abigail Youmans | The Democrat
After she served her county, she worked in the Nashville Fudge Kitchen, helping with caramels and dipping candies, fully retiring around 2016.
From her time in the recorder’s office, one thing that stuck out to her was the people.
“I was happy with everyone I worked with,” she said. “I really had a good time with everybody.”
Being involved in local government level was not the only contribution the Kirts made to Brown County.
They’ve attended New Life Community Church, and Marcus was a member of the Brown County Jaycees, an organization funding things like the Fourth of July fireworks and construction of baseball diamonds at the Brown County Fairgrounds.
He also coached little league for several years.
Marcus was a decent basketball player himself, he said, playing “way back when” when Helmsburg and Nashville schools “did a whole lot of squabbling.”
Nancy said one game in Nashville, one coach had too much of a temper. At one point during the game, he threw his hands up and said, “That’s it.” The team walked off the court and the game was over.
When the young couple was dating, the coach said he would call their parents to make sure they were home by 10 p.m.
Sitting on their swing last week, shaded from the afternoon sun, they surveyed the land around them at the life they’ve made.
“Two old folks swinging,” Marcus said of himself and his wife, Nancy, as they sat on their porch surveying their farmland.
“You sit here and look across the fields and it’s just beautiful,” Nancy said.
“Just two old folks swinging,” Marcus said.
They sum it all up with one word: Blessed.
“This was an answer to prayer, and the Lord gave it to us because he knew he had a good steward to give it to,” Nancy said.
“The Lord put it in place. … We’ve been very blessed.”
Marcus
Age: 82
Place of birth: At home on Greasy Creek
Parents: Toby and Mary Kirts
Children: Mark and Malinda
Siblings: Donald, Robert and Nancy
Nancy
Age: 82
Place of birth: Indianapolis
Parents: Byron and Sarah Coffing
Children: Mark and Malinda
Siblings: John
